Sanguine Sunrise
by KarmaHope
Summary: Sanguine: (adj) happy, optimistic ; (adj) scarlet, bloody. Three years ago, the government accidentally created Chims. They have wiped out most of Amestris' population, and in the midst of this, three friends do their best to survive. But even in the dark, there are spots of light if you look hard enough. Zombie Apocalypse AU. T for general zombie apocalypse themes (could go up).
1. Sanguine

**Please read this author's note**

_Okay. This is an experiment of mine. I had this idea, and it just wanted to be written. I am not going to worry a big deal about this story – I'm making this up as I go, I don't know where it's going or what I'm doing. I don't have a set plot. General ideas, yes. But this isn't going to be nearly as well-written or intricate as the rewrite of _In Truth, None of it Was Fiction_. I will tell you now. It's not a crack!fic. I'm still taking this story seriously. But chapters are going to be about 2,000 words long and not heavily edited. When I'm done with the rewrite, I may come back and actually make this a large project, depending on how it goes._

_I just really wanted to start posting things again, and you've waited long enough for some new material from me._

This is currently rated **T**, but it could easily go up to **M** due to the usual zombie apocalypse themes … and I don't know where I'm going with couples or if I do that I don't know how far I'm gonna go … so just a heads up.

_**This is**__**heavily AU**__. Most ages are not the same as they are in Fullmetal Alchemist. Ed, Al, and Winry are the correct ages, but Mustang and Hawkeye are 19 and 18. I will try to keep everyone in character, but I don't know how well I'll do._

**Please, if you could give me a response for this chapter at least, that would be wonderful. I want to know the general reception so I know whether to continue or not- if it's not liked, I won't be wasting rewrite time to write this one.**

As for any story I write here, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or anything related thereto it._ This shall be the only disclaimer I post._

_(note: 'Chim' is pronounced 'kim')_

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**Sanguine **[_sang_-gwin]**:  
**_**adjective**_

**1. Cheerfully optimistic, hopeful, or confident: **_**a sanguine disposition; sanguine expectations**_**.**_**  
**_2. Reddish; ruddy: _a sanguine complexion_._  
_**3. Bloody; sanguinary**.  
4. Blood-red; red.

_(from Dictionary . com)_

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**Winry Rockbell**

"Oh, _shit_.

"Winry! Behind you!"

It wasn't a second later that the girl in question whipped her hand around, smashing a malformed skull in with what was once a shiny wrench. She grimaced as blood and gunk showered down on her, but she kept her mouth tightly shut to prevent herself from accidentally swallowing any of the foul liquid. Looking up, she saw her childhood friend – who had issued the warning cry – standing at the end of the aisle, still in shock from the panic his friend's encounter had caused.

"Well, don't just stand there!" The girl – Winry – exclaimed, recovering quickly and motioning to her rucksack. "Help me with this!"

He ran towards her and she could hear his footsteps in the heavy combat boots he never took off. He hauled her to her feet, and then they took off running. There were other Chims not far behind them, and depending on how far gone the things were, the things had the potential to catch them easily.

"Where's Al?" Winry asked in between pants, trying to ignore the sounds behind her. It wasn't often that the brothers were separated, and in the world they lived in … one always had to assume the worst.

"He's fine. He got out – he should be by the car. I told him to meet us there."

She didn't continue the conversation. One tried to conserve their energy as much as possible and talking wasted valuable breath. It wasn't long, however, before they burst clear of the doors to the warehouse and into the hot summer sun once more. The light blinded the yellow-haired girl, and it was a second or two before she saw the dark vehicle parked on the side of the road. Another sandy-haired blond sat behind the wheel, watching her and his brother as they dashed toward him.

He revved the engine as soon as she and Ed landed inside the car, and then they were leaving the masses of Chims behind them.

Her name was Winry Rockbell. She was sixteen years old, as of the day before, and this was her life. This had been her life for the past three years.

"What _happened_?" She screeched quietly, not wanting to draw any more Chims to them. Using the car was already a risk, as the engine made an unmistakable rumble in the dead silence that was Outer Central. It didn't make as much noise as it had when they first found it – she had made sure of that – but it was still noise.

They were drawn to noise.

"Win, I –"

"We were doing so well! Quiet in, quick out, just as Roy told us. We shouldn't have had to fight! It was just a grab-and-go …"

"Winry, I don't know!" Edward exclaimed just as quietly, supporting his elbows with his knees. "I wouldn't have screamed if I could have gotten there in time."

"What?" Alphonse asked from where he sat in the front with what he had managed to grab from the warehouse. "Brother, what are you talking about?"

But he knew what the two were talking about. These days, when people talk in vague terms like she and Ed were doing, it always meant one thing: Chims. It was always Chims.

This is where some background information wouldn't go amiss. _Chims_ was short for 'Chimaeras.' Several years ago, government scientists began doing genetic research in the hopes of combining animal genes with human ones to aid in the prevention of various things people suffered. For example, if someone had lost a limb, they would have the starfish genes that allowed for the regrowth of limbs grafted into their own, and they would regrow the missing limb.

It was fantastic research – coming from a family of doctors, Winry could see how it would benefit the population of Amestris. The problem was that the government pushed it too early. For a while, it worked – at least that's what we were told. They tested it out in the desert towns first – camel genetics were used in an attempt to decrease the impact of the droughts they were having. If people didn't need to drink as much, there was that much more water for everyone.

Six months later, they began to hear rumors of conflict in the desert region of Amestris known as Ishval – where the very first doses of the Chimaera Project were given. It wasn't long before the conflict escalated, and the truth came out.

The Chimaera Project did work … for a while. Winry didn't know exactly what changed, but having had a medical education growing up, she could guess. The body rejected the genetic substance, and grew extremely sick. The high fevers and conflicting data to the brain messed the person up – badly – until it was like they were no longer human. Chims didn't think. They couldn't think. And they were always hungry. Their bodies demanded the fuel, their metabolisms haywire as their bodies attempted to fight off the foreign material … and lost.

Chimaerism was extremely contagious. Any part of a Chim that held the foreign genetics had to be kept out of a healthy person's systems, or else they would become messed up as well. The speed of the 'infection,' so to say, was dependent on the amount of genetic material that ended up in the body. If someone got drop of blood in the mouth, it might take a few months. But if someone ended up with Chim blood in an open wound? They had a few hours, at most.

"Don't worry, Al," Winry said from her place in the back seat, "I took care of it." She still held the rusty, bloodstained wrench in her hand. It wasn't the best weapon, as far as fighting Chims went, but it was her weapon. And, she might add, she had gotten pretty good at using it.

When she had first ended up on the road with her childhood friends Edward and Alphonse Elric, she hadn't been much use. She cried. She shrieked. She cowered. She had been a thirteen-year-old girl. Even now, she hated fighting. She hated the feeling of killing things – _people_ – even if they could no longer technically be called that. But she had stopped crying. She fought back when she needed to. The boys needed her, even if they wouldn't admit it, and therefore she would stay with them. She wouldn't hold them back – they had enough to worry about without having to worry about her as well.

"So what did we get?" Edward asked. "I have to have something to show the bastard when we get back," he grumbled.

"I got some medical supplies," Winry offered, looking through her sack. "A couple bandages, some antiseptic … it's not much, but it will help."

"Lamps," the younger Elric said from behind the wheel. "I also grabbed some oil and matches. There was more …"

"Okay, good. I also managed to grab some stuff, so that should be enough."

They rode the rest of the way through Central in silence, listening only to the soft purr of the car's engine. The sound, while really inconvenient, filled Winry with pride. It was the reason why she wasn't entirely useless in this situation they found themselves living in. Originally an automail mechanic in training, the girl lived and breathed machinery. She had saved all their lives multiple times by hotwiring cars for a quick getaway from Chims when they were out on their own.

The three of them pulled into Central Headquarters a couple minutes later. Well, their version of Central HQ – an abandoned apartment complex on the outside of the city that had been slated for demolition before the outbreak. The _real_ Central HQ was the overly large, fortified structure smack dab in the center of the city. That was where the military and the families of the soldiers and officers had holed themselves up when things took an extremely sour turn. Most of the Chims in the city were to be found in the perimeter of the government building – they could sense the number of people, and the sound of sporadic gunfire also drew them in.

Roy had chosen the location for his own Headquarters for that reason – with most of the Chims there, there were never too many around the hotel. Still, there was always a twenty-four hour watch stationed in rooms 122 and 125 – the two rooms that overlooked the entrances.

They were greeted by Maria Ross and Denny Brosch as they exited the car. The seventeen-year-olds both carried weapons, keeping their eyes on their surroundings rather than on the return of Winry and the Elrics. After losing a party right at the front doors a couple months before the three of them had arrived, Roy made sure there were always men or women to cover the backs of the people hauling sacks.

"Good afternoon, Maria, Denny!" Winry exclaimed as brightly as she could as they approached the building.

"Good afternoon, Winry," Maria answered for both of them, but didn't take her eyes off their surroundings. "Hello Edward, Alphonse," she said, acknowledging the brothers as well.

No other words were then exchanged until all five of them were safely inside the building. The lack of incident was rare – the sound of the car usually brought at least one or two Chims back to Headquarters. Once the doors were closed, they were locked once more. The doors were always locked in case of an attack.

"So, Ed, what did you guys bring back for us today?" Denny asked eagerly, trying to peer into one of the sacks without much luck.

"Enough that Roy won't tan our hides again," the younger blond teen said as he readjusted his grip on the bag over his shoulder.

"Brother, he isn't that bad," Alphonse tried telling his brother, but his words fell on deaf ears. The younger boy sighed at his brother's stubbornness.

"Did you have any trouble?" Maria asked, taking Winry's sack from her. Again, the 'trouble' was simply implied. _Chims_. Although the black-haired girl was only a year and a couple months older than the blonde, she had been with Roy's gang for much longer. The younger girl looked up to her as a superior and as a friend.

"Not too much," Winry told her. "I took one out with my wrench, but then we just ran." They'd had worse warehouse runs. Much worse. Seeing Maria's next question, she continued with "No, we didn't lead them back here, obviously. We lost them at the first turn."

Considering Al wasn't even technically old enough to drive at fifteen and a half years, he did it extremely well. Two and a half years of practice hadn't hurt, that was for sure. And with Amestris the way it was now, no one was going to care. No one _did_ care. The more people that could drive, the better.

"You're back," a new voice broke through Edward and Denny's banter. "Sorry to drag you away, but Roy needs you all to report back to the Office."

Winry turned to see Elizabeth Hawkeye standing in the entrance to the hotel's stairwell. There was a clear hierarchy in the ragtag group she found herself a part of, and while Roy Mustang was undeniably the leader, Elizabeth was just as undeniably his second-in-command. Roy made the executive decisions, but the blonde woman in the stairwell was the one who kept Central Headquarters running as smoothly as possible on a day-to-day basis.

She heard Edward grumble something unintelligible, and she had the strangest urge to whack him with her wrench for it. She would be lying if she didn't feel the urge often, but she never carried through. For one, her wrench was rusty and covered in Chimaera blood. If she didn't infect him, he'd end up with lockjaw or something equally as terrible.

It pained her to admit it, but he was one of the best fighters their group had.

"Sorry, Riza. We really were on our way," Al said.

"I know you were," the eighteen-year-old told them, "but Roy is getting impatient."

"Great," Edward drawled, drawing the word out longer than it needed to be. "Come on, Al. Let's get this over with."

"Hey!" Winry exclaimed, running a few steps to catch up with the brothers, "I'm coming with you! I was just as much a part of this run as you were!"

The golden-haired boy looked at her for a second. "Okay," he conceded, "let's go."

_Sheesh_, Winry thought as she followed after the brothers. _What is with him?_ They were in this together… weren't they?

_It's probably nothing_, she told herself. And it was.

x-x-x

_Response for at least this chapter would be fantastic. If it's great, I may end up making the chapters longer, but no promises. This is supposed to be a fun thing that allows me to feel I'm making progress when I'm stuck on the rewrite._

_Anywho._

_Love always from the not quite dead yet  
KarmaHope_


	2. Burnt Umber

_Thank you for your reviews for the first chapter – the experiment continues! I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much, and that it meets your expectations :)_

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**Burnt Umber **[burnt **uhm**-ber]

**1. An earth consisting chiefly of a hydrated oxide of iron and some oxide of manganese, used in its natural state as a brown pigment (raw umber) ****or, after heating, as a reddish-brown pigment (burnt umber)**  
2. The color of such a pigment; dark dusky brown or dark reddish brown.  
**3. Shade; shadow.**

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**Roy Mustang**

Sometimes, nineteen-year-old Roy Mustang wondered just what the hell he was doing.

Sheaves of paper were piled on the desk he'd hauled up to room 150 when he and the original three had first made base in the abandoned hotel. Several held the various work and duty rosters, while others were inventories of supplies and weaponry. Also buried somewhere on his desk were the lists of all the people who currently claimed residence in Headquarters and the reports of every Chim attack anyone encountered.

He stared at the disorganized mess now, wishing more than anything that he could douse every list in gasoline and strike a match to them. He had hated paperwork in school, and the feeling of animosity had not gone away. If it were up to him, he wouldn't do any of it. It shouldn't have been his responsibility. He was only nineteen. Had things not gone the way they had, he should have graduated high school by now. He should already be making his way up the military ranks. As it was, he, his best friend, and his girlfriend at the time had been forced to leave high school in their junior and sophomore years in the midst of a terrible Chim attack on their hometown … and all those plans had gone down the proverbial drain.

But he had adapted. Instead of succumbing to the fate the Chim attack had brought upon their horribly underprepared town, he, along with Elizabeth and Maes, had gotten out. Upon surviving, he had channeled all his ambition elsewhere – into not only surviving, but thriving under the new circumstances. And, if anyone asked him, he was doing a damn good job at it.

In all reality, though, he wouldn't be doing nearly as good a job if Riza wasn't there to keep him on track and on top of the dreaded paperwork.

A knock at the door knocked him out of his thoughts. "Enter," he barked, searching desperately through the mess on his desk for the papers he would need for this debriefing. _Dammit_, he thought,_ where the hell did those go?_

He found a blank sheet of paper just as the younger teens entered, but he still couldn't find the correct supply lists for the life of him. _Shit_. He could feel the judging, hostile gaze from the eldest blond, and he grit his teeth. That boy certainly knew how to grate on his nerves.

Roy relaxed as Elizabeth moved to stand at his side as she usually did. "Top left, middle of the stack," she murmured to him, quiet enough that the teens in front of the desk wouldn't hear. His heart ached at having her so close, but he reached to place she had said. As much as it hurt, she was one of the only ones that kept him sane in this apocalyptic world.

"Thank you," he muttered to his ex-girlfriend.

"Having difficulties?" Edward Elric snarked from where he sat. Alphonse quickly tried to hush him.

"Not at all, Fullmetal. Now, I need your report."

"Don't call me that!" Edward huffed, crossing his arms and sitting back in his seat. "Fine," he said. "Al, Winry?"

One by one, the younger teens each gave their reports, each going through their sacks in order to accomplish the accuracy the records required. If they ever grew low on food or medical supplies, one can or one bottle of antiseptic could mean the difference between life and death. It was a lesson Roy had learned the hard way in the early days of the era.

"Any incidents?" He asked after the inventory was taken, as was standard procedure. He could already tell by the fresh blood spattered across Winry Rockbell that there had been.

At the mention of incidents, Winry reached up in an attempt to clear some of the now-crusted blood off her face. "Yeah," she said. "I got one. I wasn't watching, and it snuck up on me. Ed warned me just before it got me, and I took it out."

"Was that the only one?"

"It was the only one we killed. We ran from the others on the way out."

"How many were there?"

The blonde girl bit her lip, trying to think. "Ten?" she asked hesitantly, looking over at the Elrics for confirmation.

"I counted about fifteen behind you as you ran out," Alphonse responded to her, then turned to Roy. "About fifteen in Warehouse B," he confirmed.

The black-haired teen took a moment to finish writing their report in his neatest handwriting, then handed it over to the three blonds for them to sign. Being the suspicious person he was, it was a measure he took to make sure there weren't any unauthorized reports put in the pile. When it was handed back to him, he signed it was well.

"Thank you," he said, setting the sheets of paper down somewhere on his desk. "You are dismissed."

Edward made some comment or another, but Roy didn't listen. He and the blond teen had gotten off on the wrong foot when they first met, and neither of them had made any ever made any effort to improve their relationship. Oh, well. As long as Ed followed his orders and didn't screw the entirety of Central over, there wasn't a problem.

He groaned, resting his elbows on his desk in order to rub his temples. Dealing with the obstinate sixteen-year-old always left him with somewhat of a headache. It didn't help that the supply runs had been bringing back less and less recently. Having been operating out of the hotel for almost two years now, the warehouses around the area were nearly depleted of their resources. He'd had to send his people further and further to bring back supplies … and they weren't the only ones utilizing the government warehouses.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay here," he said, staring down at the supply lists. He heard shifting behind him, and then the slow approach of heavy boots. It wasn't long before there was a pair of hands massaging his shoulder, and he relaxed into the touch.

"You'll figure something out," Riza said softly, and Roy sighed.

_You_. He hated that word. There was a time, before everything went to Hell, that the _you_ had been _we_. Then the Chims attacked and … well …

"Why are we doing this?" he asked tiredly, leaning back into her hands. It was a question he'd asked many times in the two years they'd been at the hotel. "Why can't we just go back to the way we were?"

There was a short silence. "You know why, Roy."

He did, but it didn't make it hurt any less. Sometimes, he wished more than anything that they could both ignore the rational side of their brains that told them it was a bad idea. But he knew they couldn't. They couldn't be distracted. They couldn't risk their life worrying about the other. They couldn't lose their respect or credibility as the commanders of the little society they'd built from the ground.

"Yeah," he acquiesced quietly.

"The Elrics and Winry have settled in well," Riza remarked after a long silence between them, never ceasing the movement of her hands. "They've been here for six months now."

"I can't call them the newbies anymore," Roy chuckled weakly. "Not after Maes dragged that girl back last week."

"Sciezka? She's sweet," the blonde said. "Still a bit shaken up, as one can imagine, but I think she'll be fine."

"I'll give her another couple days before I put her on the roster," he said, scanning the paper that still lay on top of the desk. "We can't have anyone out in the field that isn't fully with it," he added, almost as an afterthought. A minute later, he was making a sound of protest as Elizabeth removed her hands from his shoulders.

"Sorry, Roy. I have watch duty coming up – you should know, you put me there," she said, but there wasn't an ounce of maliciousness in her tone. The nineteen-year-old smiled sadly to himself at her words.

"You're good there," he said as she made her way around to the front of the desk. "I don't know what we would all do without you," he admitted.

_I don't know what I would do without you_.

"That's easy," his ex said, pausing at the door. "You would survive, because what else can you do?"

And then she was gone.

"Dammit," he cursed, pushing away from his desk. He had the strongest urge just to burn something, and he eyed the line of alcohol-and-rag-filled bottles on the counter of the room's kitchenette. He kept a flint in his pocket at all times, and it would be so easy just to send everything up in flames. Perhaps that would ease some of his frustration at the world.

But he couldn't do that.

Instead, he made his way over to the window that overlooked the back alley below. There were five Chims, wandering randomly – aimlessly – through the shadowy street. Five was a little worrisome, but as long as they didn't look as if they didn't have a directive, he didn't have to take action. Doing so would only waste ammunition and draw more to the spot, causing his actions to be completely counterproductive.

Turning back toward the room, he sighed for the billionth time that day. He needed to find Maes, he decided. The dire situation he knew Central HQ to be in was constantly weighing him down, and his meeting with the Elrics and the subsequent conversation with Riza had done nothing to lift his spirits. He hoped that his best friend could help him, even just the tiniest bit.

He checked the room Maes shared with his girlfriend Gracia on floor three – the couples floor – first. He was greeted by Gracia's five-year-old sister Elicia at the door. Gracia wasn't far behind her sister, and told Roy to try the makeshift library that had been erected in the fifth floor's common area.

"He's been trying to help Sciezka settle in," Gracia told him. "She used to work in a library, apparently, so he's dragged her off to put our books in some sort of order."

There was a hint of jealousy in her voice, but Roy didn't mention it as he thanked his best friend's girlfriend and her sister. He was the only one that knew that Maes was seriously considering proposing to his girlfriend of a year and a half. Gracia really didn't have anything to worry about.

He and Maes had been best friends since primary school, and the other black-haired nineteen-year-old was the one other person that kept him sane as the days passed. True, he had a tendency to go on and on about his girlfriend and Elicia that often drove Roy to distraction, but he was the best friend Roy could think of having. Maes had been there every step of the way, and Roy hoped that he would be there until the end as well.

The young man was indeed in the makeshift library – which was more of just a book collection, honestly – with the newest addition to Central HQ. Upon seeing Roy, he left the small brown-haired girl to her work to join his best friend.

"It's amazing, Roy! She remembers everything she's ever read! All of it!"

They both turned to watch the girl – who seemed to be about fourteen – sort through the piles of books, getting them into some order or another. It was then that Roy had an idea.

"Do you think she'd remember the records just as easily?" he asked.

Maes looked at him. "What do you … _oh_," he said in realization. "Sciezka!"

The girl turned away from her work and scurried over to where the two young men were standing. "Yeah, Maes? Oh, hi Roy!"

"Sciezka, I think Roy has another job that you'd be really good at."

Roy couldn't believe his luck. Half an hour later, his desk was organized and all his papers had been backed up in Sciezka's head. If he had a question about how many of something they had in inventory, or he need to know who was scheduled for what on the roster, he just had to ask her.

At least _something_ had gone his way.

x-x-x

_Again, response is welcome. You won't be getting another chapter as quickly, however … sorry._

_Love from  
KarmaHope_


	3. Scarlet

**I have created a Tumblr blog for all my stories, especially ****Sanguine Summers**** and ****In Truth, None of it Was Fiction****.**_ There, I will answer any questions you may have, take requests for one-shots to do with any of my stories, and post extra content such as unused story plots, chapter beginnings that were scrapped, and what I was thinking when I wrote certain parts. I'll also link to all fanart and other such things._

_In fact, I currently have the original, unposted first chapter for this story up on there!_

_So follow me at:___**karmahope . tumblr . com**

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**Scarlet **[**skahr**-lit]  
_**noun, adjective**_

**1. A bright-red color inclining toward orange.  
**2. Cloth or clothing of this color.

**3. Of the color scarlet  
**4. Flagrantly offensive: _Their sins were scarlet_.

_(from Dictionary . com)_

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**Edward Elric**

"_Quick, this way."_

_It was dangerous, being out here in the open. Chims may have been more concentrated around urban areas, but it wasn't uncommon to find one out in the fields. Depending on the genetic material running through the bloodstream, it was luck of the draw whether the one you came across could run or not. In the fields, if the Chim was fast, there was no option but to fight. There was no possible way to outrun a fast Chimaera in the open._

_Edward watched as his brother and their best friend emerged from the cornfield and crept across the dirt road. Both looked just as weary as he felt. It had been days since any of them had been able to have a bath or shower, and it was beginning to show. But they were alive, and that was all that mattered._

"_I don't like this," Winry said, shivering slightly as they walked down the battered dirt road. "It's too open. We're moving too slowly."_

"_We couldn't stay in Ceredigion any longer," Alphonse sighed, stretching out. "We were running out of food. The Chims were beginning to gather … we had a hard time getting out as it was."_

_The fifteen-year-old shivered again. Her clothes were damp from the scattered rain showers of the past couple days. All of their clothes were. Edward sighed, not saying anything. Rain was good, when it came to Chims. The three of them had learned early on that the rain washed away their scent, confusing the creatures. However, especially now that it was getting colder, the rain meant terrible things for the three travelers. Another shiver wracked its way through the girl's body, and soon Edward was shrugging off the bright red coat he had found a year or so back and draping it over his friend's shoulders._

"_It's wet, so it won't be much help," he mumbled, looking away from her. "But it might help some."_

"_What about you?"_

"_I'll be fine," Ed insisted. "Just take the goddamn coat."_

_After that, the three of them walked in silence for several hours, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention with their voices. They ran into a few Chims, but dispatched them with some difficulty. Cold joints weren't exactly conducive to swift movement._

"_We need to get to Central before winter sets in this year," Alphonse finally said. "We can't risk a repeat of last year."_

"Brother?"

His brother's voice in the present brought Edward out of his memories. Turning away from the window, he saw Alphonse standing there with a shirt in his hands and a worried expression on his face.

"I'm fine, Al," Ed reassured him. "I was just … yeah. Remembering things."

He knew Al would understand. He often got melancholy on rainy days – an aftereffect from the years where rain usually meant days of sickness afterward. All three of them had ended up sick as a dog at one point or another in the years they had been on their own. Then there was the one time all three of them had been out of commission at the same time …

"Is your arm bothering you?"

Ed hadn't even noticed he was rotating his shoulder. "Yeah," he said, as there was no point in lying. That was another problem he had with the rain – there was always a dull, aching pain that settled into the stumps of his arm and his leg. Snowstorms were worse.

"Winry's down in the garage, I think," Al suggested, putting the rest of his laundry away in the hotel drawers. "She can usually do something to help the pain, right?"

Edward shrugged, only to wince when his arm protested. "It's not too bad," he said. "At least, not as bad as it's been in the past. I don't want to bother her."

"Ed, you haven't talked to her in days. I think she'd love it if you went and bothered her."

This was true. The elder brother debated back and forth about it for a bit, then made up his mind. "Fine, I'm going. Don't forget we have the evening patrol tonight," he reminded his brother before he stood and left the room.

His left leg protested with every step down the stairwell, and it was then Ed appreciated his brother making go to see Winry. He couldn't fight Chims if he couldn't move half his limbs. If he didn't get it fixed, he'd be practically useless on patrol that night. He was _not_ about to let Roy have that satisfaction, the bastard.

He didn't even have a decent reason to be avoiding Winry. Things had just been … weird lately. His friend was thriving under the living conditions at Central. She was getting more and more involved with the workings of HQ and, well … Edward just didn't want her to get hurt. He knew he shouldn't worry – after all, in the two years they had been out on their own, Winry had proved herself more than capable of dealing with Chims.

She just trusted way too easily. The three of them had ended up in trouble a few times while they were on the road because they had trusted the wrong people. While Edward felt that most of the people in Central were trustworthy, he was still suspicious. Winry, however, was not. Still, he scolded himself, that wasn't any reason to avoid her. If anything, he should be sticking closer to her to keep her out of trouble.

He did indeed find her in the garage, on her back underneath one of the cars that had been snagged off the street. On a box beside her head sat the new girl – Sciezka? Yeah, that sounded right. When the brown haired girl saw him, she waved frantically.

"Hi, Edward!"

"Ed?" He heard Winry ask as she maneuvered herself out from underneath the car. She had a worn bandana covering her hair, and her face and hands were covered in engine oil and grease. "Oh!" she exclaimed when she saw him limping. "I completely forgot! I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine, Win," he said. "You have more important things to worry about."

"Nonsense," the girl insisted, grabbing a rag to wipe her hands on as she stood. "Give me a minute to get cleaned up, and then I'll be right there."

And then she left Edward standing awkwardly with the fourteen-year-old girl. Sciezka was Winry's roommate, and he knew his childhood friend was excited to finally be rooming with someone. As the new girl, she had been placed in her own room as there had been an even number of women before she had arrived. After sleeping next to Edward and Alphonse the entire time they were on the road, it had been hard for her to suddenly switch to sleeping on her own again.

In fact, in the first few weeks they'd been at HQ, he and Al would often wake up in the morning to see her fast asleep on the floor between their beds. While there weren't supposed to be more than two people above the age of thirteen in a room, and while she was supposed to remain on the fifth floor in the women's dorms, Roy and Riza had turned a blind eye to it.

It was one thing that Ed was actually appreciative of Roy for … not that he'd ever say it.

"Oh!" Sciezka suddenly exclaimed, "I think it's my turn for laundry next. Sorry, Edward!"

And then he was standing awkwardly alone in the garage. Luckily, it wasn't long before Winry returned, hands clear of black goop. Her face still had a few smudges across it.

"You probably don't want to walk back up to your room to do this," the girl said, grabbing a (mostly) clean towel from the floor. Flapping it out, she placed it on top of one of the tables that had been moved out there for her workspace. Pushing tools out of the way, she then turned back to Edward.

"Shirt off, pants off, sit there," she commanded. After years of the same thing, Ed wasn't even fazed. He silently did as he was told, wincing as his arm and leg protested painfully. _If anyone walked in …_ he couldn't help but think. After the first time that had happened, however, no one in Central had questioned it.

"How bad is it?" Winry asked, standing before him with a small wrench in hand. A clean wrench, not the rusty one covered with Chim blood.

"About the same as usual," Ed grumbled.

The pain in his arm sharpened as she disconnected some of the unnecessary nerves, but then dulled slightly. Disconnecting the nerves didn't make the pain go away completely – the pain, after all, was in his flesh and not in the metal of his prosthetic. However, it did help a little, as it removed some of the extra strain.

"And there hasn't been any sign of …" the blonde in front of him trailed off tentatively as she stood from adjusting his leg. Neither of them, nor Alphonse, ever liked talking of the events that had landed Edward with his metal prosthetics.

"No," Ed confirmed, and Winry let out a sigh of relief.

"If you ever, _ever_ feel like you –"

"I know. I'll tell you right away. But it hasn't happened yet, okay? It's been three years – don't you think it would have happened by now?" he asked, trying to reassure her.

"It's just … I worry. Every single day. Every time you or Al get sick, I –"

She began to sniffle, and Edward realized in horror that she was about to cry. He hated the fact that he was the one that made her cry so often, and there was nothing he could do about it. "Come here," he told her gently.

"I'm sorry," she murmured into his shoulder as he enveloped her into a hug. "I try not to. I really do."

"It's okay," Ed told her. "It's okay."

A few minutes later, she pulled away with a small smile on her face. Her eyes were still watery, but she pushed through. "I'm alright. Now put your clothes on."

Edward couldn't help but laugh as he pushed himself off the table. Even though life wasn't great, and the threat of the Chims loomed over every single action, every single day … he was really happy that they still had their best friend with them. Many, many others couldn't say the same.

"Thanks, Win!" he said after he got his pants and shirt back on. He still hurt, but it was more of a background pain than anything now. He could deal with that.

"Remember to come back after you stop hurting so I can reattach the nerves," Winry said, pointing her wrench at him. "It's only a temporary solution."

Ed told her he would. They had gone through this routine enough times now that he knew what happened if he didn't get it fixed. A numb arm and leg was an odd sensation, and it was easy to trip when your appendages lagged in response to the brain's commands.

"And don't get into any harsh fights!" The girl yelled at him as he left the garage.

The sixteen-year-old wandered aimlessly for a while. He wasn't on any rosters that day except for evening patrol. Elizabeth Hawkeye, Rebecca Catalina, and Jean Havoc were out on the weekly supply run. Ed hoped they would come back with some good stuff – meals the past couple days had been severely lacking. Although he had no destination in mind, Ed wasn't surprised when he found himself on the hotel roof.

_Oh, right_, he remembered belatedly, _it's raining_.

With a quiet huff, he sat underneath the overhang that jutted out above the door. It was so _boring_, staying in Central HQ. Safe … but boring all the same. If you weren't assigned to a work roster, or out on patrol, or on a supply run, there was practically nothing to do. It beat months and years of trekking cross-country, but sometimes it felt that all they were doing was waiting.

For what, though, he couldn't figure out.

x-x-x

_Going strong, and I'm still plotting plots._

_Remember, _karmahope . tumblr . com_. I already have extra content up for this story. And, as always, feedback is welcomed, especially with this story!_

_Love,  
KarmaHope_


	4. Carmine

_I'm not too happy with this chapter. I decided it was time to introduce some conflict / a story arc, and I feel this could have been done better. This is where I call in the excuse that I'm really just writing this for fun because I felt the concept needed to be done._

_If I ever end up rewriting this to be a well-thought, seriously written story, this is definitely one of those things I will further develop._

_**I changed the name of the story, because I feel it fits perfectly: "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning."**_

x-x-x

**Carmine** [**kahr**-min, -mahyn]  
_**noun**_

**1. A crimson or purplish-red color**  
2. A crimson pigment obtained from cochineal

_(from Dictionary . com)_

x-x-x

**Alphonse Elric**

Patrol was never fun. Sure, it was one of the only times they were allowed out of Headquarters … but it was dangerous. There was always a high possibility of getting bit or scratched by a Chim, and that was not an experience that anyone enjoyed.

No, Alphonse Elric preferred staying inside the abandoned hotel. Even though it couldn't be considered anything close to safe, it was at least dry … which was more than what could be said about the teen's current position – walking through a wet, empty alley armed with a heavy metal staff.

A sharp hiss sounded to his right, and the younger Elric looked to where his older brother's face was contorted into a grimace. Al immediately recanted his thoughts. For all he was miserable, Edward was miserable and in pain. Al had never had to deal with automail limbs, but after almost two and a half years of living with his brother, he knew it wasn't a walk in the park.

"Perhaps we should be heading back?" He asked this hesitantly a few moments later, even though he knew what his brother's answer would be.

"No," came the expected answer, "I'm fine. They're counting on us, right? We can't let them down just because a little rain."

Sometimes, Al thought his brother was too stubborn for his own good.

"Okay," he said. "We just have this block to finish anyway, and then we can get back to where it's dry!"

The evening patrol was usually the calmest of all the excursions into Central City. Even with the mutated genes, Chims usually followed the general behavioral patterns of humans. Like humans, Chims were diurnal and therefore much more sluggish in the evening and nighttime than the rest of the day. That being said, the patrol would sometimes run across an owl or a bat Chim, whose genetic material caused it to be just the opposite.

The purpose of the evening patrol was to dispatch the Chims that were hovering around their base so that in the morning, there was time to wake up and get into position to defend the hotel. Al didn't know if it actually worked or not, but it seemed to be a good idea in theory. The further away the Chims were, the more time it would take for them to get to the hotel. It also allowed the supply run team to get out in the morning without much problem.

There were currently three other teams out on patrol with the Elric duo. While Edward and Alphonse had gone south, Elizabeth and Rebecca had taken the east side, Jean and Heymans had taken the north, and Maria and Denny had gone west. It was a system that allowed for almost the entire perimeter to be cleared in the least amount of time.

Sometimes, Al couldn't help but think it was all too orderly, that things went a little _too_ smoothly. After the utter chaos that had been the year and a half or so that he, Edward, and Winry had been on the road, the relatively safe atmosphere of Central HQ was a little unnerving. It had been six months now, and he still felt as if something could go wrong at any minute.

"KYAAAAH!"

A loud, high-pitched squeal cut across the rain-splattered city, jerking Alphonse from his thoughts, and it was only a few seconds later that both the Elric brothers were running in the direction of the noise. They had nearly finished their route, and they should have been heading back by now … but they couldn't just leave someone who was in trouble. In the dog-eat-dog world that society had become, the Elrics had always found themselves helping the littler dogs rather than eating them.

The two soaked boys skidded to a halt in the middle of the next street over, looking for anything that could point them to the source of the noise. They stopped, waited … and listened.

_Woof! Woof … grrrowl._

Alphonse exchanged a look with his older brother. Speaking of dogs, the creatures were extremely valuable in the fight against Chims. There were two back at Headquarters – faithful Den, whom had followed the three from Resembool, and Black Hayate, Elizabeth's husky. Chimaerism didn't seem to affect them in the same way it did humans – they would get sick for a few days, but otherwise be perfectly fine.

And they _hated _Chims.

Ed and Al took off once more, and it wasn't long before they found the source of the noise. In the back of a dead-end alley stood a little girl, crying and flattened against the brick wall while a large white dog growled at the three advancing Chims. If the Elrics had been but a minute later … Al didn't want to think about it.

He shifted his grip on his staff, and Edward pulled his sleeve back to reveal the knife he attached to his prosthetic arm whist on patrol. In the split second before they foolishly charged the Chimaeras, Alphonse thought it to be a wonder Winry hadn't killed his brother yet for mistreating her engineering.

It didn't take them long to dispatch the Chims. With them distracted, the brothers managed to take two of them out before they even realized what was happening. That left it at two-on-one as the third Chim turned to fight … and it wasn't much of a fight.

The girl quivered before them, and blue eyes stared through brown bangs. Realizing that the two of them must look a fright covered in Chim blood, Al understood why Edward crouched down before approaching her. They'd look less menacing down at her level.

"Hi," Edward said, "I'm Edward, and this is my little brother Alphonse. We're here to help you, okay?"

The girl nodded quickly, but didn't relax a muscle. She was on alert still, almost like a cornered animal. Briefly, Al wondered why she was out here all on her own. He didn't want to think about the most obvious answer – that her parents had both been turned.

"What's your name?" the younger Elric asked the girl, crouching so that he was next to his brother once more.

"N-Nina," she said. "A-and that's A-Alexander."

"Nina," Edward repeated as the girl continued to shiver, "you're chilled to the bone." Before the girl could say anything else, he had shrugged off his worn red jacket and placed it over her shoulders. It too was wet, but it had to be better than nothing.

Before they could ask any more questions, though, Al knew that they had to get out of the confined alleyway and into the open. In the years since leaving Resembool, one thing the Elrics had driven into their minds was to always leave at least two openings – preferably three. And in the alley, there was only the one.

"Come on, Brother. We need to get her out of here."

Thankfully, Nina followed the two teens without much protest. They had saved her life, after all, and she seemed to be a very trusting girl. Alexander followed closely behind Edward, nudging into his flesh hand every now and again. If they weren't in such a desperate situation, Al could have laughed at how quickly the big white dog had taken a liking to his brother.

"Do you have any family?" Edward asked the girl once they were out in the main street.

Alphonse dreaded the answer – why else would a four-year-old girl be out in the streets on her own in these conditions? Therefore, he was pleasantly surprised when the girl nodded affirmatively.

"My daddy," she said affectionately, but then her face fell slightly. "He usually saves me … but lately, he's been paying more attention to the creatures than me."

"We should take them back to Central," Al told his brother quietly, watching as the girl and her dog wandered a few paces in front of them. "Her dad too, if we find him. No one should be out here on their own." He wouldn't admit it, but Nina's words had made him uneasy.

Edward nodded in quiet agreement. "She was so young," he said wistfully. "She couldn't have been much more than a year old when everything was shot to hell." Looking to Al, he sighed. "This life is the only one she's ever known."

Alphonse took his eyes off the pair in front of them. "In a way, though … isn't it better that way? Not being able to remember how things used to be?"

Edward too stared at the girl in the oversized red coat. "I don't know," he said, and Al pretended not to notice the little hitch in his voice.

Before them, Nina inhaled loudly and then squealed. The Elrics immediately readied their respective weapons, ready for a fight. They relaxed at her next comprehensible word.

"DADDY!"

Noise … noise was not a good thing. The Elrics winced in tandem, immediately scanning the area for any attention the cries may have attracted before jogging to catch up with their newest friend. When they did, they saw the man whom they assumed to be the girl's father jogging up in the opposite direction. The man swept his daughter up into a hug amidst her shrieks of joy, and then looked at the two teens after putting her back down.

"Thank you for rescuing Nina," he said gratefully, shifting her behind him protectively. "I heard her scream, but I was … held up." The Chim gunk covering his hands was enough explanation for the boys. The man looked to be in his early forties. He didn't look strong or fierce, but the gunk covering his hands and the blood spattered across his glasses suggested otherwise. It was impossible to judge people just by their appearance nowadays.

"I'm Shou Tucker," he told the brothers. "I would greet you properly, but …" he gestured vaguely with one blood-covered hand.

The Elrics introduced themselves for the second time that evening, disregarding the gruesome appearance of the man. The exchange was awkward, to say the least. It wasn't often that the boys ran into someone who wasn't part of the closely-knit group back at Headquarters, and Edward had never been an overly social person to begin with.

"Do you have somewhere to stay?" Tucker asked the boys, "Our house isn't far outside the city. No one should be stuck out in this weather."

Both boys turned him down. "Actually," Al said, "we were going to ask you if you wanted to come with us. We're living with a group of people about a mile from here, and –" he didn't get to finish asking his question before the man turned down the offer.

"Oh, no. Nina and I get along just fine," he said, stroking his daughter's dark, wet hair. "It's been different, since her mother died, but we're doing well. Thank you for the offer, but no thank you."

Nina shivered against her father's leg, and he picked her up once more. "In fact," he continued, "we should probably be getting home, and you should be as well." Carefully, he removed Edward's jacket from her trembling form and handed it back to its owner.

"Come, Alexander," he commanded, and the interesting trio walked away from the stunned Elric brothers.

"He was right," Alphonse said to Edward, "we should be going back. Everyone is probably really worried by now."

"Yeah," the older blond replied distractedly.

"Brother?"

Edward shook his head. "It's nothing. We should report this to that flame bastard though – he and Elizabeth should know there are others nearby."

They all but flat-out ran back to Headquarters, aware of the panic their absence had caused. Once they were back inside, where it was warm – and dry – the two of them were immediately hustled toward the fires that had been built in the converted decorative fireplaces. They couldn't risk getting sick – without easy access to medicines and other such things, even a cold could become something deadly.

What Al wouldn't give for a hot shower … but the water that remained in the system wasn't safe after three years of contamination. For a while after the first outbreaks, everything still worked – there were still enough people working at the water and power plants. Now, now there was no one.

Any water that was used in HQ was pre-boiled, which killed most of the contaminants.

It wasn't long after his hair had dried and he had stopped shivering that Roy approached them, with Elizabeth on his right side and Winry flanking his left. When she saw them, Winry immediately dashed forward and started worrying over Edward's metal. Al watched as his brother pretended to be disgruntled, but eventually gave in.

"What happened? The other patrols were back half an hour ago," Roy asked them, sitting down on one of the extra armchairs in what used to be the first-floor lounge.

"There are others living nearby," Edward answered simply, for once not instigating an argument against the older teen.

"Tell me everything," the commander of Headquarters – well, commanded.

Alphonse sighed. This was going to be a long conversation, he could already tell.

x-x-x

_I'm hoping to wrap this arc up in the next chapter. I know I'm rushing it, but … ehn._

So the question is: Do you want the next chapter Edward-centric, even though I just wrote one of his chapters, or should I do it as someone else? (I'm thinking if it's not Edward, it will be Roy)

_**Please, I would appreciate more feedback than I'm getting. I'm getting maybe 3 reviews a chapter, and there are almost 200 of you who have read this. It's a little off-putting.**_

_**I'm not gonna do a 'this many reviews before I update' because that's just desperate. But if you have any input or feedback whatsoever, I would really love to hear it.**_

x-x-x

karmahope . tumblr . com


	5. Ruby

_I posted a song on my Tumblr that I feel fits this story. The link is at the end of the story._

_And here, you will receive the full brunt of my penchant for writing people's whole names in fic, save for when people are talking …_

_To the person who wanted more Royai, and the person who said the last chapter was a bit of a bore … this one is for you._

Note: I took Riza's hometown from the fic _Best Kept Secret_ because that's probably the closest thing to a canon answer as there is.

x-x-x

**Ruby** [**roo**-bee]  
_**noun**_

1. A red variety of corundum, used as a gem.  
2. Something made of this stone or one of its imitations, as a bearing in a watch.  
3. A deep-red port wine.  
**4. Deep red; carmine.**

_(from Dictionary . com)_

x-x-x

**Elizabeth Hawkeye**

_Tell me everything,_ he had said.

Those were the words that had landed them there, wandering aimlessly down the streets of abandoned Central. With a snort of disgust, the man beside her kicked a pile of not-yet-decomposed cardboard out of his path with a boot she knew was one size too small for his foot. Hayate, whom had tagged along on their venture outside the hotel, ran over to sniff it curiously before bounding a little way ahead. The windswept streets were silent save for the faint groans and growls of living Chimaeras and the careful impact of their boots and paws upon the cracked concrete.

Truth be told, she had no clue where they were going. Edward had given Roy the street name where they had met the Tuckers, but he had said they'd been told the house was a little way outside the city. Beside her, the black-haired teen sighed. Elizabeth felt a little twinge in her heart at the expulsion of air. He had so much resting on his shoulders, and there was only so much that she could do to help.

"I shouldn't be the one doing this," the young man beside her groaned aloud, his voice cutting through the muggy silence like a knife. "The man is like, forty! He's not gonna listen to a dumb teenager like me."

She shot him a soft glance, unable to keep all her emotions off her face out here, where it was only the two of them. "Who would you send instead?" she asked gently. "Vato is the oldest one at HQ, and he's only twenty-six. Besides, sending him wouldn't do you much good – you know how he is with people."

"I should have just told them 'no,'" Roy lamented.

"And further Edward's poor opinion of you?" Elizabeth turned to him and raised an eyebrow. "He still hasn't forgiven you for burning that building down with the three of them inside."

"I didn't know they were in there!" The commander of Central HQ exclaimed as loudly as he could while still remaining quiet. "All of our people were out, no one said anything to me about other people, and the Chims were all still inside! It was a perfectly rational decision!"

"You know Edward," the blonde said. "At this point, I think his grudge is more just an ingrained behavior than anything. He enjoys getting you riled up."

"I know," Roy grumbled, but then he sighed once more. "They forget that I'm only nineteen. I'm not just talking about the Elric brothers, either. Everyone …"

It was moments like this that Elizabeth wished circumstances hadn't required them to break up. She wanted more than anything to draw him close to her as she would have in the weeks after they had been forced to leave Newton. It was ironic – in all their years together, they had been dating when they needed it the least … and then broken up before they needed it the most.

But she couldn't let herself be weak. They had around fifteen other people that they needed to be worrying about, plus two dogs and a couple cats Alphonse had rescued. They couldn't be caught up in one another – it would only lead to ruin.

Still, she sidestepped a little bit as they walked so that her upper arm brushed his as they walked. She only hoped that the touch was as reassuring as she meant it to be. Judging by the slight relaxation in his frame, it was.

"Hey," she said, "maybe this Tucker won't ask."

"And if he does?"

She shrugged. "Then lie," was her blunt reply. "Twenty sounds more responsible than nineteen."

"Thanks, Riz– wait," Roy said, stopping suddenly.

Elizabeth did so, used to following his commands without question, and immediately felt the color draining from her face. In the time they had been talking, the Chim growls had gotten louder. Much louder. Before them, Black Hayate was barking at the end of the street they were on.

"Shit," she cursed, grabbing her handgun out of the handmade holster attached to her thigh. _I should have been paying more attention_, she scolded herself. _I didn't even realize!_

It was because she'd been so distracted by Roy. Yet another reason why she couldn't risk throwing herself back into their relationship.

Beside her, the young man in question grabbed an alcohol-filled bottle from the pack he carried at the small of his back. A match wasn't long in following. Although it was a grave situation, she couldn't help but smile a little to herself – Roy had always been a theoretical pyromaniac, and it was an interest that had actually paid off.

Chims, like any wild creature, hated fire. And Chims, like any living being, didn't deal well with being covered with it.

The two stayed utterly silent as they ran to the end of their street, rolling through their steps to minimize the amount of noise. Riza was the first to look around the corner of the abandoned building; gun pointed out before her as if she'd had military training. Hayate sidled up beside her, heeling without her needing to command him.

Two taps on her shoulder. _How many?_

A splayed hand followed by two fingers. _Seven._

A pause. A flat hand swiveled at the wrist. _Scratch that._

A clenched fist. _Ten_.

Behind her, she heard Roy take a deep breath. It had been a long time since they'd needed to fight that many at once. In the first years of Project Chimaera, with the initial infection, Chims had been everywhere. Those had been the dangerous years. It had been near impossible to walk through the streets without being attacked. Now, the survivors had killed many of the initial Chims … but the Chims had turned and killed many of the survivors.

Of a state with a population of 50 million, there were millions of Chims left out there.

The thought was unnerving and overwhelming, and so Elizabeth took a couple calming breaths before she steadied her arm. Picking her targets carefully – bullets and ammo was too precious to waste on wild shots – she placed two bullets through the heads of two Chims in short succession. Unfortunately, she had broken her silencer through a Chim's eye the year before, so the sound of the shots drew unwanted attention.

All eight of the Chims turned their way, and it was then that they really prepared for a fight. Behind her, Roy struck his match against the rough brick of the wall and lit the oily rag sticking out of the glass bottle. Stepping out into the open, he hurled the handmade firebomb as hard as he could toward the feet of the approaching creatures. Smashing against the ground, it burst into flames and sent three of the things screeching bloody murder.

"Go, boy," Riza urged Hayate as she shot once more. The Chim moved unexpectedly, and the bullet grazed its temple instead of burying itself in the forehead as it should have. She cursed – loudly – and then regretted it. Roy spun toward her, as if he were about to ask her if she was okay.

He didn't get the chance.

In turning towards her, he didn't see the large cat Chim – probably lion genetics – bounding straight for him.

"You _moron!_" She screamed at him as soon as one more shot had seen its way into the half-human half-cat abomination's head … right before it would have gotten the person that mattered the most to her in this messed up world.

"Were you _trying _to get yourself killed?"

"Riza, I–"

But she wasn't hearing any of it. One shot – two shots – two more down. One got a little too close for comfort, and she pulled the trigger at practically point-blank range. Blood, flesh, and brain matter covered her in a nauseating splatter shower, and only years of experience kept her from losing her lunch.

Using the inside of her sleeve, she wiped the gunk away from her mouth and eyes. A few yards away from her, Roy was finishing the three that he had injured at the beginning of their scuffle. Even further down the street, Black Hayate zealously ripped at the throat of the second Chim he had gotten to the ground.

For such a friendly dog, he was ruthless.

_Eleven_, Elizabeth noted unhappily. Of course the sounds of their fight would draw more. She decided there and then that her husky was getting a little extra from her rations that night – he deserved it.

With the immediate threat neutralized, Riza stalked up to her ex-boyfriend and ripped into him with almost the same ferocity Hayate had ripped at the Chim.

"What the _hell_ happened back there?" She demanded to know, shoving her pistol back into its holster with more force than that was necessary. "We _agreed_, remember? 'Concentrate on your own survival before worrying about the other?' Goddammit, Roy. It's the end of the fucking world, I'm going to curse! Anyone who doesn't must be a saint. It means _nothing_, so don't get yourself killed over it!"

She huffed, and Roy watched her with widened eyes. She hated herself for the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes. She hated herself for taking six more lives, adding to the running total that was well over a couple hundred by this point. She hated herself for being unable to protest when Roy wrapped his arms around her. She hated herself for allowing herself to bury her face in his shoulder.

"I was so scared," she whispered. "Don't _do_ that to me."

"I'm sorry, Riza," he murmured into her hair.

"Am I … interrupting something?"

Elizabeth sprang away from Roy as fast as humanly possible, wiping her eyes clear of tears with the inside of the sleeve that wasn't covered in Chim blood. Roy straightened as well, raising himself to the entirety of his five feet eight inches. A few seconds later, it was as if the entire incident hadn't happened.

Ah. The man standing before them must be Shou Tucker, then. She couldn't think of who else he could be. He definitely fit the description Ed and Al had given them, down to the Chim blood that covered his hands once more.

"Shou Tucker, I presume?" Roy asked pompously, walking toward him. He held out his hand for a shake, despite the blood on the other man's hands. "I'm Roy Mustang, and this is Elizabeth Hawkeye. You met a couple of our friends a day or two ago."

"Oh, Edward and Alphonse? Yes, I did. They saved my daughter and her dog."

Elizabeth couldn't help but notice that he wasn't paying full attention to what Roy was saying. His eyes continually strayed to the bodies that lay littered around the street. It wasn't just her, either. Roy noticed as well, and called him out on it.

"I'm sorry," Tucker told the two teens. "I had been hoping to capture a few to study. That specimen looks particularly fine," he said, pointing to the cat/human Chimaera.

"You're a scientist," Roy said matter-of-factly, with just a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Dr. Shou Tucker, at your service," the man said, still distracted. Leaving Roy, he knelt down beside the thing Riza had killed only a few minutes prior. She shot a look at her ex, who simply returned it with an 'I don't know' gesture.

"Which one of you killed him? The shot is so clean," he said with an awe that made Elizabeth want to throw up for a second time. She hated killing, and this man was complimenting her for it?

When neither of the teens answered him, Shou looked up. "You," he said to Roy. "You look like a strong young man. Help me carry this one home. Your girlfriend can come too – you're going to want to clean up a little, and I'm sure my house is closer than where you're staying."

Both Elizabeth and Roy tensed at the 'girlfriend' thing, but they silently agreed to go with him. They had come this far – they might as well finish what they had started. Roy, however, did not want to touch the Chim.

Yet, he grudgingly picked it up. Riza knew he would – they wanted answers, and where else to get them but from one of the government scientists whom had worked on Project Chimaera?

Besides, as much as Roy pretended he hated Edward … he didn't, really. And if he thought he could help two more people, he would try his hardest to do so.

x-x-x

_My chapters are getting longer …_

_I lied in the last chapter. There are probably going to be two more chapters in the Nina arc. Riza just kind of wrote herself in, and the arc wanted to be four chapters instead of two._

_The next chapter will be kind of boring, and probably shorter. But you'll learn some more things about Chims._

_**I really loved the 7 reviews I got on the last chapter. Thank you so much – they made me feel a lot better about writing this. In fact, I finished this chapter last night, but didn't post because it was late :)**_

x-x-x

karmahope . tumblr tagged / playlist:_sanguine_sunrise


	6. Claret

_Found wi-fi! Greetings from England ^.^ _

_Merry Christmas, all. I tried to get this done before I left the country. It didn't work. Still … better late than never, right?_

x-x-x

**Claret** [**klar**-it]  
_**noun**_

1. The red table wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France: originally it was light red or yellowish.  
2. A similar wine made elsewhere.  
**3. Also called **_**claret red**_**. A deep purplish red.  
4. **_**Slang.**_** Blood.**

_**adjective**_

**5. Deep purplish-red.**

_(from Dictionary . com)_

x-x-x

**Roy Mustang**

It took _hours_ to get to the Tucker house.

Well, at least it seemed like hours. Time stretches out when one is stuck carrying a dead Chim through abandoned streets. This, Roy had found out the hard way.

In the beginning, he had complained and bitched and moaned under his breath. Mr. Tucker was walking quite a few feet ahead of him, so there would be no damage done. No damage, that is, besides the glares Elizabeth shot in his direction. He had quite forgotten that she was walking only a foot or so to his left, and therefore could hear every word he said.

_At least she's not shooting bullets_, he thought gratefully. He knew she would, if she could … but they couldn't afford to waste the ammunition now.

Yes, _now_. It was something she had done before. Before as in … _before_.

By the time the three reached the house on the outskirts of the city, Roy was drenched in the thick red goop that was the chimaera's blood. The viscous stuff acted as glue, sticking tufts of the chimaera's fur to the worn fabric that his shirt was made of. He felt like a mess.

Scratch that. He _was_ a mess.

And he was so damn glad that Edward wasn't around to see him in such a state of disarray.

The Tucker residence, like any other inhabited building in Amestris, showed signs of chimaera attack. The windows, while he was certain there had been glass before, were now crisscrossed with wooden beams hastily nailed haphazardly into place. Around the property was a ramshackle barrier created with nonessential furniture such as bookshelves and extra dining chairs. It was broken in places, and in even more places it was covered in dried Chim blood.

It wasn't as clean as their setup at Central HQ, but considering both Tucker and his daughter were still alive and living in the house … Roy assumed it was effective enough.

A sharp cough from Elizabeth alerted him to the fact that Shao had opened the front door and was now ushering them both inside. He could debate Chim survival strategies later. Right now, he just wanted to get the one he had on his shoulder _off_ his shoulder.

"Come in, come in," the older man said. "I would offer you both something to drink but …" he trailed off, not needing to finish his sentence.

Both Riza and Roy stepped inside, although the male teenager had a bit more difficulty considering the burden he carried. It was with a grateful grunt of relief that Roy dropped the Chim inside the front hall. The wood was stained a darker color in one spot – a dark red, he assumed, the result of preceding bloodstains from preceding Chims. The muddy color was just the right size for a chimaera, and that was where he dropped the creature he carried.

"Oh, thank you," Shou said. "Yes, right there is good."

With the Chim off his shoulder, Roy could more easily scope the place out. The inside of the house, he noticed, was just as cluttered and disorganized as the outside. Books and sheaves of paper littered almost every available surface in the room. Many of the papers were crumpled and marred with marks which could only have been made by bloody fingers.

_So_, Roy thought, _his research hadn't ended with the beginning of Chimaerism._

There was also a shotgun resting on the wall by the door they had all just come in. Extra ammo sat on a nearby bookshelf. This man was not a stranger to combatting Chims, by any means.

"So," Elizabeth said as she concluded her own assessment of their surroundings, "you were one of the scientists working on Project Chimaera?" The question was prodding – there were no two ways about it. To his credit, however, Mr. Tucker indulged the two desperate teenagers with a small smile.

"Yes," he said, "I am. Come this way – we don't have to stand in the entryway for this conversation. In fact – it's better that we don't. Since I lost the glass in those windows, my daughter and I have had to stay extremely quiet. Noise draws the Chims, as you most likely well know."

Both teenagers nodded their heads in agreement as they followed the man into the house. Roy, however, didn't miss the fact that Riza kept the safety off on her pistol. As much as this man seemed trustworthy, no one was trustworthy anymore. They couldn't let their guard down.

"Good idea," he murmured into her ear as he came up behind her. As much as he tried, he couldn't ignore the shiver that he both felt and saw make its way down her back. Sighing heavily, he drew back to put at least a foot's worth of space between them once again. _Someday_, he told himself, _just not yet_.

Pounding footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

"Daddy!"

A little girl, whom Roy assumed to be Nina, came running in from one of the back rooms. The black-haired teen could suddenly understand why the Elrics had been so adamant in attempting to help her – she couldn't have been older than little Elicia back at Headquarters.

"Daddy, I heard you from outside! We have visitors? We never have visitors … it's not Ed and Al … who is it?" She spoke her words in a rush, excitedly. When she turned to look at Roy and Elizabeth, her face lit up. "Are they okay?" she asked the two.

Roy was puzzled. Neither he nor Elizabeth had mentioned knowing the two boys, so unless the little girl was a mind reader, there was no way she should have known to ask the question. Still, he answered it for her.

"Yeah, they're fine. They were a little wet when they got back, but we got them dried off quickly… how did you know we knew them?" He couldn't help but ask the question. He had to know. In this day and age, unknowns were dangerous. He preferred to have all his facts straight all the time.

"You smell the same," she said simply. Beside her, Shou Tucker wore a proud smile but chuckled nervously before prodding her back toward the way she came.

"Nina, darling, why don't you go back and play with Alexander? I have some important, boring grown-up business to attend to with Roy and Liz. You'd hate it."

Both Roy and Elizabeth visibly winced at the nickname.

The girl looked as if she was going to protest, but then sighed resignedly. "Okay," she said heavily before turning back around.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, whirling back to face Roy and Elizabeth, "tell Ed and Al I said 'hi!'"

"Will do," Riza promised, and Nina beamed before flouncing her way into the back of the house once more.

_Strange child,_ Roy thought. Somehow, having the answers he craved only served to make him even more uneasy.

"So. You wanted to know about the Chims," Shou said suddenly, clapping his hands together and knocking the raven-haired teen from his thoughts. "Come in, sit down. I apologize about the mess."

"It's fine," Roy said, more focused on the matter at hand. "Information is information, and information is what allows us to survive longer." He followed the older man into what seemed to be the living room, as it held two couches and what seemed to be an unused fireplace.

Shou ushered them toward the loveseat while he himself took the armchair. While Roy took the offered seat, however, Elizabeth chose to stand behind the couch. Sometimes Roy thought that she needed to loosen up just a little bit – after all, she wasn't his subordinate or anything – but he never spoke his opinions. Everyone had dealt with the outbreak in their own way, and becoming militaristic and proper had been hers.

"Yes, well," the older man said as he sat down, "the first thing you need to know is that we meant to help. None of the scientists ever meant for any of this to happen. We knew Project Chimaera wasn't refined enough to go into the public. We tried to convince the higher-ups that it was a bad idea but … they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen, it's not our fault! Okay, remember that."

Roy nodded. Already this was more information than they'd had previously. A surge of anger built inside him as he couldn't help but think that the scientists working on the Project could have done more, but he kept silent. He couldn't afford to blow up and lose their only source of information.

"It was all we could do to sit back and wait for the inevitable. We didn't know what would happen, only that something would. Any man who tried to warn the public was shut down immediately. I knew a couple men personally whom were never seen again. Whether they're in jail or dead, I don't know. When the effects first made themselves known, we tried to help with those, too.

"It started with a fever, as the body tried to fight off the foreign material. At first, it was thought to be normal. After all, the body was adjusting. Therefore, they kept administering the Chimaera drug. Then people began coughing up blood. The government refused to see it – they passed it off as an outbreak of tuberculosis. By the time they got their heads far enough out of their asses to see the connection between the symptoms, the Chimaera drug had been administered to almost ten million people.

"After weeks of coughing, the patients would fall into a state of delirium. They no longer responded to any sort of stimulus, at least not coherently. They could no longer comprehend what we were saying – the fever, it fried their brains. After that, it wasn't long before body hair thickened or feathers sprouted and bone growths caused the skeleton to take a more animalistic form.

"The very last thing that happened was the snap of the mind into the mindset of a rabid animal. The metabolisms due to the fever run extremely fast, so they're always hungry. That, combined with the hunting instinct of the animal … well, you know how they are."

Throughout this, both Roy and Riza listened in silence. After Shou finished talking, the silence remained for quite a few seconds before Elizabeth finally broke it.

"You mean … those people are still _alive_?"

Mr. Tucker hemmed and hawed. "In a sense," he finally admitted, "but you can hardly call them _human_, not anymore. There's no way to reach them. Talking to them is just about as useful as asking a lion not to attack you."

A hand clamped down on his shoulder, and Roy allowed himself to put his own on top of it. Riza hated killing, and this new information … _it must be terrible for her_, he realized. Their fingers tangled, and he knew just how bad it must be if she was allowing the contact between them.

"But now," Roy forced himself to say, "people turn within minutes of being bitten or scratched or coming in blood contact with Chim blood … why? Why did it take so long then, but not now?"

"The body mutates the genetics," Shou explained. "Already-mutated material will affect the body a _lot_ faster than the pure genetics. In our studies, we discovered that the period of sickness, especially while the patients were coughing blood, was because the genetic material was mutating. Take out that portion of the process, and you're left with the fever and delirium."

The man paused, and then leaned toward the teens. "I don't mean to scare you, but we're all infected. Every time you drink the water, or breathe the air, or touch a surface which has had contact with a Chim, you obtain miniscule amounts of the mutated material. It's not much, and therefore your body is able to fend it off, but once you overload it with an infected substance – like blood – it jumpstarts the process into occurring."

This time, it was Roy's turn to seek comfort from the young woman standing behind him. She squeezed his hand in return, and it calmed him only slightly. All this time, whereas he thought he had been running a safehouse from Central HQ, he had only been managing a time bomb. From the sounds of it, they were all doomed. It was a fact he had known subconsciously, but having it spoken aloud made it that much worse.

"I'm trying to find an antidote. I'm trying to find out what makes these things tick. I'm still attempting to figure out what went wrong. It's difficult, now, but I think I'm making process. My wife died last year due to the disease, and so finding all its secrets means more than anything to me."

The teens from Central Headquarters stayed at the Tucker residence for a while longer, discussing Chims and other heavy subjects with the older man. It had been months since anyone at HQ had encountered anyone from outside their tightly-knit group, and it was an eye-opening experience. Remembering his promise to the Elric brothers, Roy tried to convince Shou to bring Nina and Alexander with him back to Headquarters. Key word – tried. As he had with the Elrics, Shou turned the offer down once more.

Thus it was with heavy hearts that Roy and Elizabeth made the return journey, this time uninterrupted by Chims. In fact, it was only once they came into sight of the abandoned hotel that they let go of the grasp they'd held on the other's hand since the moment in the Tucker's living room. It was rare that they ended up on their own together like this, but now things had go back to the way they were.

Roy had a lot to think about, given this new information. Did he make it public knowledge around Headquarters, or keep them in the dark? He knew the answer to that, but he didn't want to deal with the ramifications such information would cause.

Speaking of ramifications … the Elrics wouldn't be very happy with him …

x-x-x

_I think my chapters are getting even longer still …_


	7. Copper

_Aand, I come back to you as a seventeen-year-old!_

_I only got three reviews on the last chapter, which kind of disappointed me … especially after I posted it from a completely different country for you guys!_

_I should be working on my _Truth & Fiction_ rewrite – I'm writing chapter 11 now! – but I need to feel like I'm actually making progress. So hear you go._

_As you read through this, please keep in mind both definitions of Sanguine … there's a reason I titled this story the way I did :)_

New playist song is up on my blog, and I feel it applies very well to this chapter. Link at the bottom, as usual :)

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**Coppe**r [**kop**-er]  
_**noun**_

1. A malleable, ductile, metallic element having a characteristic reddish-brown color: used in large quantities as an electrical conductor and in the manufacture of alloys, as brass and bronze. Symbol: Cu; atomic weight: 63.54; atomic number: 29; specific gravity: 8.92 at 20°C.  
**2. A metallic reddish brown.**  
3. A coin composed of copper, bronze, or the like, as the U.S. cent or the British penny.  
4. Any of several butterflies of the family Lycaenidae, as Lycaena hypophleas (American copper) having copper-colored wings spotted and edged with black.  
5. A container made of copper.

_(from Dictionary . com)_

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**Edward Elric**

"_Don't drink any water that hasn't been boiled first. And even then, drink no more than you need."_

_The simple, vague mandate had come from the leader of their ragtag group after his unsuccessful venture to the Tuckers' house. The entire population of Central HQ was gathered in the topmost floor of the hotel – the furthest floor from the Chims gathering down below. When everyone met in one place, it was always on the top floor, as masses of people tended to attract the Chims. Roy's face was solemn, troubled … not that Edward really cared. He always seemed to be that way._

"_Why are you telling us things that we've known for almost three years now?" the blond teenager demanded angrily after the rest of the assembly had dissipated. "It's not like we could have forgotten overnight."_

"_I'm serious, Fullmetal," he responded. "I don't just mean from bodies of water. Try to avoid consuming any rainwater as well."_

_Surveying the taller teen, Ed was so distracted he even let the 'Fullmetal' slide. "There's something you're not telling us," he accused suspiciously. "Something happened on the way to the Tuckers', or something happened there, and you're hiding it from everyone."_

That incident had occurred a few weeks prior to the present day, and Edward had yet to learn what Roy was hiding. He had since shared his worries with Al and Winry, and the responses he'd gotten had been what one would expect out of the two people mentioned. His little brother had agreed that something seemed off, but had said it was pointless to pursue it further. It hadn't affected them yet, right? Winry had been slightly less helpful in suggesting optimistically that Roy knew what he was doing, and if he hadn't told Edward what was going on, then it didn't concern him so perhaps he should mind his own business for once.

As the days and weeks passed, the worry about Roy's suspicious behavior had faded until it was little more than a nagging worry. There were much bigger things that they had to worry about. While one would assume that the chimaera population of Central City would continue to dwindle as people killed more and more of them, the opposite had recently been observed. There were _more_ Chims making their way into the city, and no one at HQ knew why.

The second problem was that Roy could no longer hide the fact that the warehouses closest to HQ had nearly been stripped clean of supplies. While no one had outwardly panicked about it yet, a strong undercurrent of murmurs and worries could be felt underneath the actions of day-to-day life. The whispers were getting louder – either they'd have to begin journeying farther each day to retrieve new supplies, or the entire camp would have to move.

There was a choice of two evils – it was either death by Chim or death by starvation, and no one could decide which would be a better way to go.

And yet, despite tensions rising within the camp, Edward and Alphonse were having the best time they'd had in a while. While Shou had refused to join them at Central, the brothers had been allocated the job of keeping an eye on the family in order to make sure they were doing okay. In the world they lived in now, no one could be trusted … but everyone was an ally against the same common cause.

It wasn't often that Edward allowed himself to let loose. It had been years since he'd done anything even remotely close to playing, and so visiting with young Nina had been such a reprieve. She and Alexander had so much energy – it was a pity that circumstances kept her from being the carefree little girl she so deserved to be. And yet, seeing her smiling face gave both Ed and his brother a small sense of hope that had been all but crushed completely.

Unfortunately, the way things had been lately had required both the Elrics to help within the hotel as much as possible – both in gathering the few supplies they could find and in reassuring everyone that yes, things would be alright. Because for as much as Roy and Edward clashed and despite the fact the Elrics were the second-newest residents of the camp, the leader of Headquarters trusted the boys. That wasn't to say they were included in the upper echelon of Central HQ – there were very few people that fit underneath that umbrella, meaning basically Elizabeth and Maes.

But they were trusted, and both they and Winry had quickly gained a reputation within their relatively large band of survivors. They were well liked, and Roy knew how to work that to his advantage.

The bastard.

So this was the first time in weeks that Edward and Alphonse had been able to get out of the hotel long enough to go visit the Tuckers. Winry tagged along with them, rusty wrench in hand. She had met the little girl shortly after Roy and Elizabeth had returned from their venture to the Tucker residence, and had been immediately enamored with her. She hadn't gone on the past couple trips, and so she'd insisted on going with the brothers.

While ten Chims had been unexpected when Roy and Elizabeth had run into them the month before the present day, it was now considered lucky if any less than seven were seen in the streets on the route to the Tuckers'. There was something happening, Edward knew, and that something wasn't good. Alphonse agreed with him, and although neither had said anything to Winry, it seemed she suspected something was wrong as well.

Just what it was, none of them knew.

And not knowing – especially when simple knowledge could mean the difference between life and death – was not good.

Edward paused for a moment at one of the multiple intersections within the city, attempting to remember the correct path to take. He was almost one hundred percent certain they had to continue straight here … or did they turn left? _I should know this_, he thought irritably. Before he could get too flustered, though, Alphonse provided the answer as he continued to walk straight across the street.

In his moment of hesitation, he accidentally fell back behind his brother. Winry now walked beside him, her face glum as she rubbed a spot of blood off the heavy wrench she insisted on carrying with her. They had already seen combat on this trip, and Ed knew how it affected the girl he'd known practically since birth. Her hands were made for life, not death … but she no longer had any choice in the matter.

She must have noticed him looking at her, because she looked up from her wrench and smiled weakly. Edward could remember a time when she was always smiling. Now, it wasn't so common.

"I'm alright," she said, trying her best to reassure him. "There was just a really stubborn stain …"

He opened his mouth to say something – _anything_ – but words failed him. Instead, he only strained a smile back at her. They could both see through her weak excuses, but neither of them would say anything. Neither of them ever said anything.

They arrived at the ramshackle barricade in front of the Tucker house only a few minutes later. Wary of the grunting, snuffling noises coming from the end of the street, the three quickly ducked inside the yard and shut the permanently makeshift gate behind them. It was then that they could hear a dog barking and growling.

"That sounds like Alexander," Alphonse remarked, "but … he doesn't growl … not like that."

The large white dog had been well-trained in the preceding years. He was usually extremely quiet, at least while within the house. His barks were more like soft woofs, and despite his massive size, he was really extremely gentle. Why he would be making so much noise now, Edward didn't know. Something was tickling the back of his brain – something important – but he just couldn't remember what it was.

Shrugging it off, the elder Elric rapped on the door with the backs of his metal knuckles. At the sound, Alexander's barking grew louder and more frantic. There were sounds of shuffling and banging, along with a muffled curse or two thrown, and the door was opened a few moments later. Unlike the other times they'd visited however, Shou only opened the door far enough to look out at them.

"Hello, Mr. Tucker," Alphonse greeted.

Shou's eyes flicked between the three teens. "I'm sorry," he said. "Nina's sick today. I'm afraid she can't take visitors."

"Oh, no!" Winry gasped. Being sick, especially too sick for visitors, was downright dangerous. Medication was hard to acquire these days, and with no open hospitals, sickness often led straight … to death.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Edward asked. "Surely we have something back at HQ that might help …" he trailed off as Shou shook his head quickly.

"No," he said. "No, we're fine."

"You don't look so good yourself, Mr. Tucker," Alphonse noted. Now that he said it, Edward too could tell that something was off. The bags beneath the man's eyes were larger than usual, and his cheeks seemed sunken in. That wasn't the disturbing part, though. The man's eyes seemed to glow with a manic, crazed light that hadn't been there before.

It wasn't the look of a man whose only other family – his own daughter – was close to death.

"… _but lately, he's been paying more attention to the creatures than me."_

With every second they stood there, the feeling of uneasiness in Edward's stomach grew more prominent. Behind him, he felt Winry shift uncomfortably as the Chims up the street shuffled closer. The harsh growls from within the house increased in intensity once more, followed by frantic barks.

"Please, Mr. Tucker," he said. "Can we please see Nina, even if just for a minute?"

"I'm sorry, Edward. I just put her down for a nap …"

"With Alexander making that much noise?" the sixteen-year-old demanded questioningly. Something was wrong – things weren't adding up. Alexander would never make that much noise if his beloved young mistress was sleeping, never mind if she was sick.

_He sounds … almost like he's facing a Chim_, he realized belatedly. The blood drained from his face as he remembered something Roy had told them upon his return from visiting the Tuckers. Something about Shou being one of the Scientists …

"No."

"Brother?"

"What did you _do_, you sick bastard?" Edward exploded suddenly, grabbing the man by the front of his shirt. Behind him, both Al and Winry gasped at his sudden action.

"Edward, what are you _doing_?" Winry asked incredulously, but the hot-headed blond had already pushed past the man in the doorway and was barging into the house. He tripped over the various piles of stuff that were lying on the floor, but caught his balance without slowing down. Alexander's growls grew louder and louder the closer he drew to the center of the house, until he could see the dog pawing at a closed door.

When Alexander saw him, his ferocious barking became small, scared whimpers. Absentmindedly running his flesh hand over the dog's head, Edward approached the door slowly. He could hear the others running to catch up to him, but other than that he heard what he had most dreaded to hear.

The door was muffling the snuffles and groans that were characteristic of Chims.

He didn't want to open the door. He wanted to go back to Central and pretend none of this had happened. But he owed this to her, and the anger he was feeling toward the girl's father was rising astronomically by the minute. So he opened the door.

It was dark inside, and he could just barely make out the shape within. He heard Winry and Alphonse come up behind him, and he winced internally. Neither of them needed to see this. Neither of them _should_ see this. But he knew he couldn't stop them … not now.

"Daddy?"

The one word shocked the trio to the core. Never, in all their years on the road had they heard a chimaera talk.

"N … Nina?" Alphonse stammered, sounding close to tears.

"Daddy?"

"No, n – no. It's Alphonse. And Edward. A – and Winry."

"Al … phonse? Ed … ward?"

Edward clenched his automail fist. He was so angry … he was _shaking_. Leaving the pathetic half-human sight in front of him, he whirled on his heel to stalk back to where Shou tucker stood.

"You were a Scientist," he accused the older man.

"Yes," Shou responded coolly.

Utter loathing spread its way through his chest. "You couldn't resist, could you?" he asked, his voice rising in volume until he was practically yelling. "Even after _your_ research _destroyed this country_, you just COULDN'T RESIST. Even going as far as _experimenting _on your OWN DAUGHTER!"

"Brother!"

"I bet that's what happened to your _wife_, too! Huh?"

Shou tucker took a step back in the face of Edward's ferocity. "W – What are you getting upset over?" he asked. "Surely you want this fiasco to end just as much as I do. Mankind's progress has been the result of countless human experiments, right? If you're a scientist …"

"FUCK YOU!" Ed screamed, startling everyone within earshot. "Do you think you can get away with something like this?"

"Think?" Tucker asked, "I already have. There's no government, not anymore. They're all locked within their fortress, fending off the Chims that continue to pile in front of their doors. We're on our own," he said, "and we have to make do with what we have."

"And so you _made do_ with your _daughter_. Of course."

"Would you have done anything different, Edward? We're exactly the same, you and I. And your brother. And your girlfriend, there. We'd all do anything necessary in order to –"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as Edward's metal fist met his flesh.

"Brother!"

"No!" Ed yelled as he threw another punch, "I don't … we wouldn't … not everyone …" He was winding up for yet another hit when he suddenly felt slender arms wrap around his stomach.

"Ed … please, stop. If you kill him … If you kill him, you'll only be proving him right. It won't fix anything. Please … just stop."

Edward dropped his arm slowly, sinking back into the firm, comforting grip his best friend held on him. He felt sick. He had seen many horrors since the spread of chimaerism, and yet none of them – _none_ of them made him feel as sick to his stomach as he was now.

"Daddy … you hurt?"

The scratchy, mangled voice of Nina – no, _the_ _Chim_ – behind him startled Ed. He turned to face the thing as Winry loosened her arms from him. He was under control, now. He wouldn't flip out again. Instead, he watched sadly as it approached slowly, unsteady on its feet.

It was obvious that the transformation wasn't complete. Nina – _it_, he tried to tell himself – could still talk. It was still consciously aware of its surroundings. It wasn't trying to attack them the way true Chims did. But at the same time … she – _it_ – was no longer human. And with things the way they were now …

"I'm sorry," he heard Alphonse mutter. "We can't … we can't change you back. I'm sorry … I'm sorry …"

There was a muffled sob beside him. Taking a cautious step forward, he reached out to the chimaera with his metal arm. When it made no move to attack, he rested his hand softly on Nina's head. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he stroked her hair – which was now more like fur – as reassuringly as he could.

"Ed … ward …"

"The hell you're a scientist," he accused the man behind him in a voice that was close to trembling. Holding back tears, he turned away from the sorry sight in front of him. There was nothing he could do. There was nothing Al could do, or Winry. They were helpless, entirely helpless. In fighting the Chims and in developing such an advanced community, it had led them to believe that they were in control of their own lives, when it was the furthest from the truth.

They were powerless, and the world wouldn't let them forget that.

"Dammit," he cursed brokenly. He didn't even check to see if Winry and Alphonse were behind him as he walked out the Tuckers' front door.

x-x-x

_This one is even longer still. _

_I'm not too happy with this chapter. I feel that I really didn't pull this off as well as I could have … but this is my experiment. I just hold myself to ridiculously high standards, especially for the Rewrite I should be working on … -.-"_

_It's kind of ironic … as I was writing that last part the song _"Good Life"_ by One Republic ended up playing off my Spotify. They are _not_ living the good life._

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karmahope . tumblr tagged / playlist:_sanguine_sunrise


	8. Burgundy

**So, I realized in the last chapter that in the series, they all start in Eastern Command … not Central. Should I change it, and add one more parallel, or is eight chapters in too late to change that sort of thing? Please let me know in your review.**

_6 reviews for Chapter 7 … I love you all._

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**Burgundy** [**bur**-_guh _n-dee]  
_**noun**_

1. French Bourgogne. a region in central France: a former kingdom, duchy, and province.  
2. Any of various wines, red and white, mostly still, full, and dry, produced in the Burgundy region.  
3. (often lowercase ) any of various red wines with similar characteristics made elsewhere.  
**4. (lowercase ) a grayish red-brown to dark blackish-purple color.  
**5. Also called Burgundy sauce. a sauce made with red wine and thickened with an espagnole sauce or kneaded butter, served with eggs, meat, fish, or poultry.

_(from Dictionary . com)_

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**Winry Rockbell**

It had hurt, watching Edward's back as he trudged back to Central HQ. Even in the face of the tragedy that had struck them all, the blond teen usually managed to continue soldiering on in the way he did. Truthfully, Winry didn't know how she would have been able to survive those first few months out on the road if it hadn't been for him. He had been her rock for years … and yet now, she found the situation reversed.

It wasn't the only time it had happened, especially since they'd left Resembool … but it was the first time since they'd left that he had retreated into himself to such an extent. As horrified as she was at what they had witnessed a couple days prior, Winry had forced herself back into her mechanics in an attempt to push the image of the poor girl from her head. She needed to be strong, she had realized, because she knew that Edward was in no position to be comforting her.

That wasn't to say she had taken it well, because that was the furthest thing from the truth. She had cried herself to sleep that night, long after she'd heard Sciezka's breath even out into the rhythm of sleep. She'd cried for Nina, the girl whose father had experimented upon her cruelly. She'd cried for Elizabeth and Roy, burdened with such a large task at such a young age. She'd cried for the Elrics' mother, one of the first victims of Chimaerism in their small country town, and for her own parents, whom had been part of the team of doctors serving as administrators of the Chimaera drug in Ishval.

She had cried herself to sleep that night, and every night since then. When she would finally get to sleep in the early hours of the morning, she didn't sleep well. Her dreams were haunted by images of blood and violence and all the people she had lost since Project Chimaera had failed. She dreamed of losing the only two people she had left, and she dreamed of losing herself. On more than one occasion, she had awoken mid-dream, stifling a scream to keep from awakening her younger roommate.

Thus it was with pronounced bags under her eyes that Winry went about her work like a madwoman, tuning up each of the cars that had been obtained. After that, she drew up new schematics for Edward's automail, illustrating every part in incessant detail. Noticing Den limping a bit on her automail leg, she took the time to tinker with that as well.

She hadn't seen either of the Elric brothers –except in passing – for almost three days now. And, if she was being honest, she was a little more bothered by it than maybe she should be. None of them had been assigned to patrol or supply runs, and she suspected Roy was willingly giving them a reprieve. Despite what Edward thought most of the time, the guy wasn't a complete bastard.

She appreciated the gesture, but it also meant she hadn't had an excuse to seek the boys out.

Leaving the garage for something other than food or sleep for the first time in days, she decided she would seek Sciezka out. The fourteen-year-old was good company, and Winry was sure that she had been worried for the past few days. After days of isolation, she couldn't take it anymore. Besides, she couldn't stay holed up in her garage forever.

After searching the usual spots she could find the brown-haired girl, she suddenly had the idea to check Mustang's 'office.' Sciezka had told her about the way her skills were being utilized, and Winry thought that maybe she was in there reading records for Roy. She had a little luck – she _had _found someone in the office … it wasn't Sciezka she found, though.

"_When were you going to tell us_!?"

Hearing the all-too-familiar screech, Winry paused just outside the closed door. Letting her hand fall from its position above the doorknob, she unconsciously turned her body so that she could hear what was being said a little easier. She knew eavesdropping was wrong, but … Edward had a habit of not telling her anything.

"So you worked it out, then. I'm sorry for not telling you, Edward, but I didn't want to anyone to panic," the deeper voice that could only be Roy's replied. "Please … believe me."

There was a pleading tone to the older teen's voice that Winry had never heard before. But his response had raised questions within her – what had Ed worked out? Why would people panic? She shifted closer to the door, ever willing to learn more.

"Fine," she heard Edward grouch, "but I don't like it."

"I'm sorry to ask you this," Roy apologized, "but what did you see? What happened?"

There was a long pause, and Winry could only imagine Edward clenching his shaking fists upon his knees. At last, she heard the reply.

"Nina … there weren't any marks on her. Nothing that suggested violence or an attack –"

Unfortunately, Winry didn't get to hear the rest of the reply as she heard a sharp 'ah-hem' from behind her. Whirling around, her stomach dropped when she saw it was Elizabeth standing there. Straightening up from where she had crouched by the door, her cheeks flushed with the embarrassment of having been caught eavesdropping.

"I'm sorry. I – I was looking for Sciezka, and …"she stammered out.

"And you ended up eavesdropping on Edward and Roy?"

"Yes. I mean no! I mean … Sciezka sometimes reads records for Roy and I thought –"

"It's okay, Winry," the older blond said. "I daresay that whatever it is they're discussing involves you as well. Men," she sighed in exasperation. "It's been what, three years since society collapsed? And they still think we need to be protected."

Winry snorted, and then thought about for a moment. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"How do I do what?" Elizabeth asked, unsure of the question that was being asked.

"Everything," Winry said simply. "The killing, the upkeep of this place, the keeping calm despite anything that happens … how?"

Elizabeth sighed as her hand drifted to her pistol absentmindedly. "It's really more of a why," she responded after a little thought. "And why? It's simple – because it's not I that needs to be protected … it's him. And Edward too, though they're both too thick to admit it."

"I see," Winry trailed off before recovering herself. "Thanks, Elizabeth."

The eighteen-year-old smiled. "Please," she said, "call me Riza."

The two ended up talking in the hallway for a while longer, much to the surprise of Roy and Edward when the door to the 'office' was finally opened.

"You … how long have you been there?" Edward asked in shock, pointing to Winry.

"How long have you two been friends?" Roy asked in confusion, his finger alternating between the two women.

"About ten minutes," Winry replied, and Elizabeth looked from her back to the young men standing in front of them.

"About ten minutes," she confirmed before continuing in a more businesslike tone, "Roy, we had some things we needed to discuss?"

And then the two older teens disappeared back into the room.

"Uhm … how much of that did you hear?" Edward asked nervously, fiddling with the end of his sleeve.

"Not much," Winry said truthfully, "but … I want to tell me what you know." When Ed opened his mouth to protest, she shushed him. "It's not like it's just you and Al off on one of those grand adventures you dreamed of as children. I'm just as much a part of this as you are, whether you like it or not … and I'm not going to sit around in the dark waiting for you to protect me.

"Besides," she added, thinking back to what Elizabeth – no – _Riza_ had said, "you need protecting too. How am I supposed to do that if I don't know what's going on? It's the three of us, Ed, not just you and Al."

Edward looked at her, seemingly shocked by her short tirade, and then chuckled softly. "You're right," he sighed. "Come on, Win," he said as he grabbed her wrist.

As she was dragged toward the stairwell, Winry made a startling observation – something she hadn't noticed in the years they'd been on the road fighting to their survival. She didn't know what significance it held as it passed through her mind, or why she had noticed now of all times, but …

When had his back gotten so broad?

x-x-x

_Really short chapter- I'm sorry. In my defense, this is really only half of a chapter that I felt was better split into two parts. I meant to write the aftermath and fallout of the Nina chapter, but this happened instead … so this is more of an extra/lead-up chapter. And I really wanted to get something out to y'all._

_Also, quite a few important things happened/were mentioned in this short chapter. So yeah!_

_I'll make an attempt to update quickly. The next chapter is going to be either an Edward chapter or another Winry chapter – I'm not sure yet._

_Thank you for all your support. Please answer the question I asked up top!_

x-x-x

karmahope . tumblr tagged / playlist:_sanguine_sunrise


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